OP I only skimmed through all the posts and am very late to thread. I do think a high school student should take the hardest possible courses that they can take AND do well in, if anything, to help nurture time management skills and to help instill student with some confidence that he/she can handle the increasingly challenging demands that they will face in college. You should not be “mad at myself for encouraging the APs” especially IF D had been doing well previously. It’s much better for a student to push their boundaries in high school and fail or not perform to expectations than in college at perhaps 3, 4, 500 per unit. So, okay D struggled in Chem, maybe Physics? Not exactly the easiest courses and taking these 2 AP courses along with Anatomy I do would wonder who thought that was such a good idea even for the smartest of students. But apparently things have worked out (Chem C, Physics B). So embarrassing, morale/ego deflating, yes, but not the end of the world. D will still find many, many good colleges that will accept her. Don’t rule out community college, even if as referenced in post # 7, D has interest in med school. Starting at community college is a viable path for premed hopefuls. If anything, after talking with counselors, maybe D should tap on brakes a little senior year in terms of her course selection and try to finish on a high note academically to help reinstill confidence. Maybe also start slow as to rigorous schedule first semester college to help get her bearings and further cement confidence. And when D starts college she should know that she will start with a clean slate. Nobody will really care what happened in these Chem/Physics courses except college and only if she was to take Chem/Physics again, then they’d may have D take placement test(s) to get her situated properly. Good luck
Keep in mind that colleges like to see a balanced schedule, with one each of English, Math, Foreign Language, Social Science, and Science, every year; one each of Bio, Chem, and Physics, plus one AP from these; a total of 5 AP/Honors per year (ie., 3 APs+2 Honors is fine), with 4-8 APs the “ideal” number (after which the law of diminishing returns applies) and at least one class that reflects a personal interest, be it orchestra or cooking or current events.
What’s her senior schedule?
Please keep her from taking 3 science classes.
Since colleges like 4 yr math, 4 yr science, 4 yr foreign language, 4 yr history, 4 yr english.
The only math left for senior yr is AP calc or AP Stats, the only science left is AP environmental or AP Bio. Psych is not considered a science at the school. But plans to take AP Psyc with either AP environmental or AP bio. Thats all there is for sciences. I agree that the GC should have recommended waiting for physics till senior yr. The college wants to see 4 yr science and that could’ve eased the load by doing it senior yr… Then there is history (govt), english and foreign language. Plus a fun class.
“Since colleges like 4 yr math, 4 yr science, 4 yr foreign language, 4 yr history, 4 yr english” If I understand, your student already has 5 years of high school science including 2 AP classes. While it seems to have been a bad idea for this student to take 3 science classes in the same year, I don’t see any deficiency that would require taking yet more science senior year if there are options the student prefers. Is the admissions office telling you this? To me it seems like it may be a good idea just to prove that the student can do well in an AP science class. But I don’t see how a college would expect 6 science classes.
APCalc (or AP Stats for a lighter load) is fine, APES for science (will be easier than Bio and your child already has 2 AP core sciences, which is one more than anyone would expect), would be fine too. Plus one English class (doesn’t have to be AP), one foreign language, one social science (AP Psychology would be fine but Honors-something-else would be fine too, like Honors Government) and one “fun” class
